Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea opened up about how he found a relationship with God and his thoughts on religion.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Flea, 60, revealed he is “a praying guy” and shared how he incorporates that practice into his daily life.
“I pray in the morning when I get up, when I go to bed, when I eat. And when I do an interview, I’ll just stop for a second — like, let me get out of the way and let go of everything,” he said.
Although the rocker said he isn’t “religious in any way” he “kind of” believes in God.
“And I try to live a life that honors my idea of what God is — like a divine energy,” Flea added.
As a former atheist, Flea explained what led to his belief in a higher power.
“For me, music is the voice of God. I grew up virulently anti-religious, and there came a time in the early ’90s, right around when I turned 30, I got really sick with chronic fatigue,” he shared.
During that time, he said drugs and partying had taken over his life and he thought he was invincible.
“And all of a sudden it was like all the energy got sucked out of my body. I was like, ‘I can’t go on tour, I feel too sh*t,'” Flea continued.
He also mentioned how his friends cut him off because he “wasn’t partying.”
Red Hot Chili Peppers' Flea on the meaning of God, the band's worst album and the vice he misses most https://t.co/fRmgSW9c64
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) June 27, 2023
“So I read this self-help book by this guy Jon Kabat-Zinn where he talked about how if you strip away all your thoughts and actions — your pain, your pleasure, your memories, your hopes — what’s the thing that’s left? And it really struck me because I’d been so caught up in the external,” he said.
Flea further explained thinking about “that emptiness” resulted in God making “perfect sense” to him “in that moment.”
“I mean, like I said, I’ve still never been religious. And I’ve tried — I’ve been to churches,” he continued.
When speaking about why he decided to give the church a chance, Flea said he thought “there might be a sense of community.”
“In the ’80s I’d go to churches in South L.A. as an atheist. I had a friend who knew where the best gospel groups were coming through, so I’d go and it would be incredible,” he said.
Flea added, “I thought punk rock was intense. Punk rockers are a bunch of p*****s compared to a church where people are speaking in tongues and throwing themselves on the ground.”